The familiar bi-metallic UK £2 coin was introduced in 1998 (the first was actually dated 1997). Seven single metal gold coloured thicker coins were issued before this date. The older coins remain legal tender but are rarely seen in circulation.

The old style £1 coin was introduced in 1983 to replace the Bank of England £1 note, which remained in circulation alongside the coins until 1988. Many different reverse designs were used on the original £1 coin, alternating design themes

The 50p coin was introduced in 1969 to replace the Bank of England 10 Shilling note. It was one of only three decimal coins to have been made and circulated before decimalisation took place fully in 1971. A huge number of different reverse designs

The most commonly collected decimal coins from change are the commemorative £2 coins, 50p and the UK themed £1 coins. These have separate pages with links on the home page. For the rest, there is this page, which covers decimal coins under 50p

The Original Check Your Change

2018 printed book on Amazon (new edition coming soon)

The Check Your Change App

Welcome to the original ‘Check Your Change’. Your comprehensive guide to UK decimal coins (including all decimal coins right back to 1968) and Bank of England bank notes.

100s of pages of information, conveniently and logically organised and smart phone friendly!

People have been checking their change with the help of ‘Check Your Change’ for 53 years! The Original Check Your Change is now online and more interactive than ever before.

In the early days it was the Pounds, Shillings and Pence that people were checking. These had served as the coinage of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland for over 1000 years. The UK switched to a fully decimal system (i.e. 100 pennies to the pound instead of the previous 240 pennies or 20 shillings to the pound) in 1971. Forty-eight years and a good two or three generations later and anyone under 50 is unlikely to be familiar with anything other than decimal coinage.

Use this website to quickly see what decimal coins were made. The history and information behind the events. Mintage numbers with a collectability scale. Significant new issues (with the emphasis on standard coinage rather than precious metal issues) and other related decimal coins developments will be added here.

The Book and App

Further in-depth information can be found in the UK’s best selling coin book (which is also available in Kindle format) “Collectors’ Coins – Decimal Issues of the United Kingdom“. The book contains all the information on this website, plus a lot more. Price data for all circulation coins and current Bank of England bank notes as well as information on special proof issues and other coins that were sold in packs and sets. The 2019 edition of the book will be available from mid March.

Also available is the Check Your Change app for Android and Apple devices, which allows users to manage their collection of UK decimal coins. It can also be upgraded to provide current values. More details here.

Problems with the site or any gremlins, please report to info@rotographic.com.

This odd looking and quite distinctly flawed 2017 dated £1 coin appeared in circulation in about November 2018. About eight visually very similar coins are known. All came to light within weeks of each other and the two I examined

Noted recently are a number of published Royal Mint amendments to old mintage figures. Perhaps they went through their figures and noticed that some were not quite correct. The changes themselves are not massive and seem to have affected coins

It’s about time there was an attempt to list known UK decimal error coins. I need your help to point out coins that I may have missed or simply don’t know about yet. I am very interested in listing the

The forthcoming Paddington Bear 50p has been in the news lately after seemingly appearing in circulation before it’s official release date. This seems to have excited some eBay users and tabloids. Jim H was also perplexed and wrote to me

The monometallic error £1 coins and my BU set theory Noted in the press recently (the Times first reported it on 30/1/18) there has been some exposure for the discovery and forthcoming auction of a 2017 £1 coin made of